Things Change
by Dazac
Summary: (On Hiatus) This is going to be a KotOR self insert. It will cover both games. It will become quite AU as things progress. I've got a lot of ideas for this, and am excited to see what comes of it. Reviews, criticism, comments, suggestions, and even requests for things you want to see in the story are welcome.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so, for those of you waiting for me to update my Mass Effect fic... you may be waiting a while yet. As normally happens to me, I've got a serious case of writers block. I'm hoping that by starting work on a different story, I'll come up with something for that one. Then I can just go back and forth whenever I hit another block. So, without further ado, here's a KotOR fan fic/self-insert/AU story that's been buzzing around in my head lately. I plan on covering both games, and then maybe even into TOR, granted by then it'll be very AU. So, (again) without further ado...**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Ah, good old Nar Shaddaa. This place reeks to high heaven. I think I may have stepped in something earlier, well, something more than the ever present grime on these streets. I don't want to know what it was. Thankfully, I don't have to think about it, because I've got more pressing matters to attend to. I've been stuck here for four months waiting for today. Four long, boring months with no one to talk to... well, no friends to talk to anyway.

I turn a corner and a smile breaks onto my face. There it is. Looks like crap now... then again, the past two years have no doubt been brutal to the Hawk. I wonder how T3 is holding up? Gonna have to check the tin can for rust once things settle down. My eyes lower from the ship to the small group standing near the loading ramp. Speak of the devil, there's the tin can!

"Hey, T3!" I holler, gaining the attention of the group, "It's about damn time you got here, tin can. I was worried you'd gotten lost somewhere in the void!"

T3 replied with a loud series of indignant beeps and whistles and I couldn't help but grin. The beings standing around him were looking from T3 to me with wary, distrusting looks. A few of them looked pretty tense, the others all wore a mask of calm. I felt a slight tingle in my head and my grin widened in amusement. You won't be able to read my mind, old hag, I've been preparing for this after all.

"Hey, trash compactor, you know this guy?" one of them asked. Ah, so there's Atton, ever on his guard. He's looking at me as though he's expecting me to just pull out a blaster and start firing.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I said as I came to a stop about five feet from the group, "Don't go calling my friend a trash compactor. You wouldn't believe what that little guy's been through!"

"Who are you?" the woman standing at the front of the group demanded.

I paused and looked at her carefully. So, this was the Exile. This was Meetra Surik. I let my sight adjust and could almost see the torrent that surrounded the woman, pulling everything in. In all honesty it was quite disturbing to see it firsthand. As my eyes finally met hers I realized I had yet to answer her, so giving a polite smile I told her, "I'm an ally. One who has been waiting for all of your for quite some time now. Heh, honestly I was worried that you wouldn't show but it seems that those fears were unfounded." I looked past her to all the faces looking at me and gave all but one of them a genuine smile. "I'm glad to see everyone is here, that'll make this go quicker."

"Hold on," one of the women said, green eyes narrowed at me, "Who the hell are you and what are you talking about?"

I pouted at her and spoke, "Oh, Mira, you wound me. I've been here for four months and you never noticed me? I caught sight of you the very first day I arrived... how's your leg by the way? That cut looked pretty deep."

"Enough," a voice spoke, drawing my attention, "Enough of your foolish antics. Tell us who you are and what you want."

My eyes turned to the old woman and I couldn't help but smirk at her, "What's the matter Kreia? Getting a little antsy because you can't get in my head?" I stifled a laugh at seeing the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"How do you know us?" Meetra demanded looking frustrated.

I sighed and nodded, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Fact is I know all of you. Meetra. Atton. Kreia. T3. Bao Dur. Brianna. Visas. Mira. Goto. Now, how I know this is not something I'm at liberty to discuss at the moment. After all, this is Nar Shaddaa, and you are hunting down Sith Lords." I chuckled at the looks of shock that they tried to conceal. "Tell me something," I said, clasping my hands behind my back, "I know you've already met Sion and are at present hunting Nihilus, but do you know anything about the third Sith Lord?"

"Not as much as I'd like to," Meetra said guardedly, "Why? Do you know something?"

"Why, yes I do," I said with an amused smirk, "Darth Traya, the Sith Lord of Betrayal." When none of them spoke I continued, "It's actually quite the ironic story, you see, the Sith Lord of Betrayal... was betrayed. Cast down. Stripped of power. Tossed aside. Actually quite pathetic."

"And how do you know all of this?" Kreia asked. I have to give her some credit, she is keeping herself completely composed right now.

I shrugged, "I suppose it's just one of those things..."

"That doesn't seem likely," Bao Dur commented.

"I do not sense any deception from him," Visas added. I flashed her a quick smile at that.

"If that's true, then, you know where this Sith is?" Brianna asked cautiously.

I shrugged again, "I might."

"I'm getting tired of these games," Meetra said with a scowl, "What do you want?"

"I want to save you some trouble," I said, taking a few steps forward until I was right in front of Meetra. "I'm sure you've noticed something not quite right yourself, Exile. All the warnings and cautions to not from attachments to these people, to keep them at arms length because they might betray and manipulate you... surely you realized that such warnings were themselves, manipulations?"

"What are you talking about?" Atton asked, his posture tense.

I kept my focus on Meetra, on the way her eyes narrowed and thoughts churned through her head. The sign of dawning realization immediately followed by the frantic desire to find some flaw in the thought process that brought about such a numbing conclusion. I gave a sad smile to Meetra as I nodded, "I'm afraid it's true."

"Hmph!" Kreia loudly uttered, "Nonsense and lies! If there was any truth to his words he would have said them outright instead of giving all these vague hints without any real answers."

I saw Atton smirk, "Ha! That's pretty ironic coming from you, witch."

"Silence, fool," Kreia snapped back at him.

I held up my hands, "Whoa, whoa! Settle down now, please. I think the 'fool' might be on to something. This entire time we've been talking I've felt your attempts and reading my mind, Kreia. I must say, I'm slightly disappointed. I was expecting to have to put up a lot more resistance to keep out someone so powerful as you... or, well, as powerful as you used to be, you bitter old hag." The enthusiasm and lightheartedness drained from my voice in an instant with that statement. The familiar snap-hiss of a saber igniting greeted my ears and I could feel a cruel smile work its way onto my face. "I suppose I should act intimidated, no?" I asked as I looked at Kreia.

The woman was scowling fiercely at me and I could sense her trying to build up some Force energy. Well, not letting that happen... With a quiet grunt I snapped my hand up and Pushed the Sith Lord sending her back and over the edge of the landing pad. Almost instantly several sabers and blasters were all poised to kill me. Atton however just looked at where she had disappeared. "You- you killed her," he said incredulously.

I sighed, "Technically, it'll be the sudden stop at the bottom that kills her." I looked at them all impassively before I lost my composure and smiled slightly, shaking my head. "She's not dead, that won't be enough to kill her, though I wish it was. We should leave before she turns up."

"Who in the hell are you?!" Meetra shouted, saber poised to strike out at me.

"My name is Dazac," I said, "And I'm not from _here._"

* * *

Five years earlier...

Sound was the first thing that came to me, even before my sense of touch registered that I was laying on something hard and that the air was cold. The sounds were muffled, as though my head was underwater so I could only make out a few words.

"-dn't lea-here-be in-Proba-amn Si-"

"Can-ford to-im arou-Not d-ere."

"Tha- eartless!-ll di-leav-here."

"-akgh-wou-ar h- par-"

Smell was the next sense to return to me. Something smelled _awful. _Almost as soon as that registered to me though, my head throbbed and I grimaced at the horrible ache. It felt like my brain was going to pop open my skull. I groaned at the pain in my head and rolled onto my side, bringing another groan out of me. My whole body ached. My nerves were numb and on fire all at the same time, causing a painful tingling sensation to pervade my body. I felt a hand grab my arm and hissed at the contact. Everything hurt.

What felt like a lifetime later a cooling sensation began spreading through my body, washing away the pain and leaving me with a half-numb sensation. I opened my eyes, or tried to at least, only to realize they already were opened. I just couldn't see. Everything was just one gray smear with whorls moving about it. I felt myself being lifted, my arms being draped over something. I was being carried, I realized. My feet were dragging against the ground and I felt a sudden shame at not even being able to walk. I started trying to move my feet to make up for that, but it didn't seem to help any.

A time passed, but I wasn't sure how long, before I finally mustered up the nerve to speak.

"Whuhapin?" I slurred out, groaning at hearing myself pronounce words so sloppily.

"I was hoping you could tell us," A voice said to my left. I was glad I could make out the words, but the sound still seemed muffled. "We found you down here, out cold on the ground."

I frowned, "Wherssere?"

"You don't know?" the same voice from before asked, sounding a bit clearer now.

"n'tsee," I explained.

"We're in the Undercity," a voice to my right said.

"Undasity? Whazzat?" I asked.

The wasn't any response for a moment before a third voice finally spoke from in front of me, "Uh, you know? The Undercity... the place no one in the Uppercity talks about?"

"Uppasity?" I asked, growing more confused. I just wanted to know where I was and they were telling me nonsense.

"Yeah..." the voice in front of me said, becoming much clearer now. At least, enough so that I could hear the trepidation in the voice. "The Uppercity. On Taris."

...

My mind went blank at that. Taris? Where did I know that word from? Some part of me instinctively knew something was wrong. I could feel a pervading sense of foreboding all around me. "Taris," I repeated, hoping that saying it myself would spark something more recognizable.

"Yeah," the voice in front of me said, "Taris."

My hearing seemed stable now, I could hear well. A dull thrum. Distant... growls? Dripping water. Something scuffling on the ground. A clink as two pieces of metal hit each other. And that voice in front of me. Had sounded like a girls voice. My frowned deepened and once more I repeated, "Taris."

Taris. Taris. Taris. I should remember this! What is it? What is Taris?

I was so caught up in trying to remember that it took me a while to realize that my vision was coming back to me. We had stopped moving, and now instead of gray I could start to make out other colors, or at least, more varied shades of gray. I realized it must be dark. I was eager to see again, get my bearings, so I tried to will my eyes to focus more. I was starting to be able to make out more definite shapes. The person standing in front of me was wearing blue clothes...

No, not blue clothes... then, skin? Blue skin?

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head slightly, instantly regretting it as pain flared up in my head and reminded me of how much I ached and how tired I felt. I opened my eyes again. I could see better now at least. I looked at the face in front of me, giving me a worried look. "Blue... skin," I muttered.

"Uh..." the girl in front of me replied. It was a girl. Looked like a girl at least. The body was-...

I frowned at her and narrowed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I wasn't. She had two...appendages...coming out of her head. Two of them. Two...lekku. That's what they were called. I knew what they were called.

...I knew what they were called? Undercity? Taris? Taris... TARIS!

My eyes widened and a sense of dread washed over me. It must have shown on my face because the girl spoke up suddenly with a worried tone, "Hey, what's the matter? What's wrong?!"

I just stared at her, unable to speak, and unable to think. This was...Taris... This was, Mission. I turned my head to the right and looked wide eyed at the man helping keep me upright. He was looking at me, frowning, wary. I knew the face. Carth. I looked to my left to find another man, helping me stand, looking at me blankly. I felt suddenly dizzy and jerked my arms away from the two men at my sides, falling to my hands and knees. I stared at the ground, trying to catch my breath that seemed to have left me. I felt hands on my shoulder, saw someone crouch down at the edge of my vision. I looked up at her. At Mission Vao. I didn't say a word. Just stared as one thought kept repeating in my head.

Taris.

This is Taris.

...this is Taris.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A planetary bombing wouldn't have been able to shake me out of the stupor I found myself in. I could only stare at the being crouched in front of me, in complete awe. Because of that it took me a moment to realize someone was gently shaking me, trying to get my attention. I looked up to find Carth there.

"Hey, come on kid, snap out of it! I know you're disoriented right now, but we can't stay here. Come on, stand up," he urged me, grabbing my arm and hauling me to my feet.

I stood, unsteadily, and began walking with them, unaware of the looks they were giving me and each other. It wasn't until an unearthly howl echoed through the tunnel that I hadn't noticed we'd entered, that I gave some thought to my surroundings. The sound of blaster fire erupted around me, startling me out of my daze. My eyes followed the bolts as they flew down the tunnel, impacting several pale, hunched over creatures. Rakghouls? Geez, those things were here too! I just stared as the creatures were hit, stumbled, and fell forward with a sickeningly wet thwack.

I brought a hand to my head, trying to comfort the renewed throbbing and stave off the dizziness I was feeling. "What the hell is going on?" I muttered.

"We can't take this kid with us," Carth said, "Not into the Vulkar base. Look at him..."

"Well we can't just leave him down here!" Mission shouted back.

"I know Mission," Carth explained, "Really, I do, but he's in no state to go charging into a base full of enemies, let alone a Gammorrean camp down here. Isn't there anywhere up to the Lower City from down here?"

Mission shook her head, "Not unless he can jump a twenty foot gap and land on a platform above the one he started on. The closest place is either the Vulkar Base or back at the elevator."

Carth let out a sigh while the other man spoke, "We don't have the time to go back."

"Uh, hello!" I said waving my hand to get their attention, "I'm standing right here!" When they didn't reply I sighed and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Look, I...I don't know what the hell is going on here, alright? All I know is I'm scared out of my freaking mind and that, apparently, somehow, I'm on fucking Taris with you three! I-... I'll deal with it later. Just... just give me a blaster and let's get moving so we can get the hell out of here."

"I don't know that giving you a blaster is a good idea," Carth said, "Not with how disoriented you are. Have you ever used a blaster before?"

I sighed in exasperation, "No, I haven't. Hell, I haven't even-... Can we just go please so I can have something else to focus on?!"

"What's your name?" the other man asked.

I looked at him, the realization just hitting me that this must be Revan. "D-Dazac," I replied.

"I'm Naver," he said as he handed me a blaster. I looked at it for a moment and then hesitantly took it from him. "This is Carth and Mission," he said, gesturing to each in turn. "Keep your head down and stay behind me. Carth, can you bring up the rear, make sure we don't get any surprise guests?"

"You got it," Carth said, nodding.

Without another word, Revan turned and started off, back down the tunnel. I followed behind Mission and had to move faster than I was really used to in order to keep pace. It felt awkward moving at this speed. It wasn't quite as fast as a slow jog, but faster then a brisk walk. We moved through the tunnel of the old sewer system, our footsteps splashing in small puddles of opaque water while pipes running over head dripped down onto our heads. I heard Carth mutter something about not wanting to know what the stuff was and looked back to see him wiping at his hair before giving a disgusted look and trying to shake his hand clean.

"How much farther, Mission?" Revan asked.

Mission pointed ahead, "At this next turn and through the door there and we should be right at the edge of the Gammorrean camp."

"Why would anyone set up a camp down here?" Carth asked.

"Maybe they like the smell," I offered flatly, attempting to focus on my surroundings in the sense that I was aware of what was going on around me. Thinking about them in the sense that I was actually there was something I wanted to avoid.

"Heh, I said the same thing!" Mission said, flashing me a smile. I tried to return it, but managed little more than a twitch at the corner of my mouth.

As we approached the door, Revan motioned for us to keep quiet and out of sight while he opened the door. It slid open with a rather loud grating sound and almost immediately I heard the snorting of what could only be Gammorreans. Revan lobbed a grenade around the corner and waited for it to go off before he and Carth leaned out and started firing.

I just tried staying upright and leaned against the wall of the tunnel, instantly regretting the action as the feeling of something wet soaked into my shirt. I looked down at myself and took stock of my attire. Sneakers, jeans, a thin green t-shirt... brilliant. Exactly what I need when I suddenly find myself in a different frickin' Universe! No wonder these three had been giving me weird looks. I probably looked ridiculous to them.

The blaster fire stopped and Mission ran into the room, immediately moving to the only other door there.

"Whoa," Mission said as she crouched in front of it, "This is ancient. An old mechanical lock, no control panel or anything."

"Can you open it?" Carth asked.

Mission frowned at the lock. "I'm not sure. I mean, I'm good at hacking electronic locks, but I've never come across something like this before."

"Just shoot it," I said, anxious to be moving again so that I didn't have the time to freak out like I really wanted to.

"And fry the damn thing so it can't be opened at all?" Carth said, looking at me incredulously.

I wanted to scream, but instead just settled for an exasperated tone as I replied, "It's mechanical! You can't- oh, to hell with it!" I stepped forward, pointed the blaster at the lock at point blank range and squeezed the trigger. Almost immediately the door sprang open as the lock fell to the floor, half melted.

"Big-Z!" Mission shouted, rushing into the room. My gaze followed her as she rushed forward and straight into Zaalbar, hugging him tightly. I just stood and watched as she began talking to him and introducing him to us and us to him. I just blinked. It was a Wookie. A tall, hairy, smelly Wookie. And it was real.

I closed my eyes and had to fight back the urge to scream as yet another proverbial nail was hammered into the coffin containing **_my _**world, and, I feared, my sanity. I started shaking rather violently before a sudden throb in the side of my head caused me to open my eyes and find Revan looking at me worriedly, his hands on my shoulders. So, that explained the shaking.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

_Gee, you think?_

I looked at him and asked, "Is this real?" I looked away from him and to the blaster in my hand, raising it up to look at it. It had fired. Blew the lock off. I had felt the heat on my hand, the jarring in my wrist as the shot had gone off. I lowered the weapon and turned out of his grasp and then lied through my teeth, "I'm fine." I started moving toward the door, then stopped and turned to look at them, seeing exactly what I had expected to. Worry. I sighed. "Can we just... keep moving?" I asked, gesturing toward the door.

"We will," Carth said, "But first it's best we tell you what we're walking into, and then you can tell us what the hell _your _problem is. We can't afford to have you acting like... this!"

"Carth," I said flatly, "Trust me when I say that_ this_ is much better than the alternative of screaming my head off and shouting incoherently. I went to sleep at home, and now, I've woken up in the fucking Undercity, on fucking Taris! And I'm standing here now, with all of you, walking through Rhakghoul infested sewers, heading to the Vulkar base! I don't know how. I don't know why. But, I am apparently as FAR away from home as someone can apparently get! So excuse me, for seeming out of it, because, as you so aptly stated, I have a big, goddamn problem!"

By the end of my rant I was shouting, and now I had these four individuals who shouldn't exist, staring at me, apparently at a loss for words. "Alright..." Carth said in a soothing tone, "Alright...just, take a deep breath. Try to relax. I get you. I really do..."

I deflated and sighed heavily, knowing full well that he was just saying things I wanted to hear. Things I probably needed to hear, even though I knew he really didn't get it. I brought a hand up to my head and spoke, "I'm sorry. I'm just... a little overwhelmed at the moment."

"I think 'a little' is a serious understatement," Revan said.

I let my head drop forward a bit and nodded slightly, "Yeah. Yeah. I just... time. I just need some time to think... But that's something we don't have right now, so... I'll just have to-"

"Put the meltdown on hold?" Mission asked in a tentative, yet hopeful tone.

I gave a small laugh and replied, "Yeah. Put the meltdown on hold."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to find Carth looking at me, "You gonna be alright kid?"

I shook my head and shrugged, "Pry not. I don't know. Just have to wait and see, I guess. So, what are we heading into?"

Revan patted me on the shoulder as he walked past, "Alright, we can go over details on the way. Let's get moving. We've got an accelerator to steal back!"


End file.
